arts&life
comedy
Happy Camper
JENNIFER LOVY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Tamarack alumni and
comedian Jon Glaser
returns to camp for
a night of fun and
fundraising.
details
Jon Glaser headlines Go Comedy!
Improv for the 2017 Send a Kid
to Tamarack fundraiser 7 p.m.
Sunday, April 23, at the Berman
Center for the Performing Arts
at the West Bloomfield JCC.
$180; $115/young adult tickets;
$36/2016 or 2017 summer staff;
all include dessert and wine
reception. For the event, visit
tamarackcamps.com/sk2tevent.
For more about the Brighton
Alumni Reunion Weekend,
visit tamarackcamps.com/
brighton2017.
38
April 13 • 2017
T
he first time it happened,
Jon Glaser was a camper
in DeRoy Village at Camp
Tamarack. He was going into the
sixth grade and his bunk was
slaughtering another bunk in an
otherwise friendly game of base-
ball. To help make the competi-
tion more balanced, his coun-
selor purposely dropped the ball
and Glaser, who was playing first
base, saw that as an opportunity
to jokingly yell at his counselor
for a lousy play. The counselor
didn’t find it funny and sent this
12-year-old future comedian
back to the bunk.
Glaser then wrote a letter to
his mom, telling her how much
he hated camp. He even circled
his tear drops and labeled them.
He signed the note, “Your crying
son.”
The second time the scenario
occurred, Glaser had recreated
the scene for his new reality-
show parody, Glaser Loves Gear.
The program, which debuted
this fall on TruTV, expands on his
genuine love of gear in an out-
jn
Jon Glaser (left) as Councilman Jeremy Jamm (right) on Parks and Recreation
landishly unexpected manner.
Glaser, 48, is best known for
his work as a writer and per-
former on Late Night with Conan
O’Brien, as well as his role as
Councilman Jeremy Jamm on
NBC’s Parks and Recreation.
He created and starred in the
Adult Swim series Delocated
and has had writing or acting
roles in a variety of television
shows and films, including the
2015 film Sisters, starring Tina
Fey and Amy Poehler. He also
appeared in Amy Schumer’s film
Trainwreck.
Glaser, who grew up in Oak
Park and Southfield and graduat-
ed from Southfield Lathrup High
School in 1986, now lives in New
York with his wife and two kids.
He says some of his best child-
hood memories stem from his
days at Camp Tamarack where
he was a camper for four sum-
mers, participant in an Eastern
and Western Trip and worked
for four years in the late ’80s and
early ’90s.
“Being outside every day,
playing sports and making new
friends was a fun way to spend a
summer,” Glaser says. “I could go
on and on about how camp was
such an important part of my life
as a kid and young adult. I think
anyone who goes to camp can
relate to how fulfilling it is.”
Glaser’s love of camp made
it a no-brainer to say yes when
Tamarack board member Danny
Klein approached him to return
to his hometown for a camp
fundraiser. Glaser will headline
and perform with Go Comedy!
Improv at this year’s Send a
Kid to Tamarack fundraiser on
Sunday, April 23, at the Berman
Center for the Performing Arts.
Proceeds for the event will
support Tamarack’s mission to
give every child a Jewish camp-